Pie Palace » Links

Neeeeeeeeeeat

Erigami Scholey-Fuller — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 22:01:57 +0000

I knew that OC Transpo had been making their route/schedule information available to Google Maps for a while, but I wasn’t aware that the information was publicly available. Even better: the spec is available too! (via DataOtt.org)

Erigami Scholey-Fuller — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:33:21 +0000

The problem with social media is it makes you read new things. Here’s my response to a post that bubbled up in my Buzz feed:

The premise of the post seems to be that religion alters “traits” rather than current state, and that these altered states are a good thing.

I disagree with both of these assumptions.

Did good ol’ fashioned religions cause people to “radically re-think the social order”? Not really. When religions are adopted by the state, they preserve the social order. Think of Islam or Catholicism. Universal suffrage, the (US ethnic) civil rights movement, and abolitionism were artifacts of their time that were adopted by populist religious groups.

When religions are used as tools to change the social order, are the results necessarily positive? No. Just take a look at the crusades or Iran’s Basij (volunteer religious vice squad). We can toss Afghanistan’s Taliban or any number of other self appointed moral police forces throughout history.

The West’s move away from organized religion probably has more to do with the US anti-establishment backlash of the 60s and the Christian church’s failure to keep up with current morality (viz the Catholic church’s various sexual abuse cover ups, and the spasms of hate reacting against gay marriage and the ordination of women). At the same time, less and less of our lives need a mystical explanation, and people are finding it easier to operate without the small scale mutual aide that religion once provided.

Religion isn’t falling to mysticism, established religions are creaking under the weight of an open and accepting society. As time goes on, either religion will become more personal (meaning fewer organized religions) or organized religions will adapt to our progressive social landscape. Or we’ll fall into a spasm of social conservativism and the old-skool religions will suddenly be relevant again.

PS: Is the “the Market” a religion? No, not really. Fervent belief isn’t a religion any more than believing in Santa Claus or cheering on a sports team.

It’s not too late!

Erigami Scholey-Fuller — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:39:42 +0000

You can still still tell the city what you want the new Lansdowne to look like. But be quick – the deadline for submissions is today.

Public consultation?

Erigami Scholey-Fuller — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 14:20:04 +0000

I just got an email from the City, telling me about a public consultation over what the new and improved Lansdowne Park should feature. Let’s hope this consultation works out a little better than the last one.

Hello Ottawa Public Library

Erigami Scholey-Fuller — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 04:24:25 +0000

And no, that isn’t a membership card in my pocket. I’m just happy to see your new catalog. Your FANTASTIC new catalog.

The crunky old catalog has been replaced with a shiny new BiblioCommons website. With a bit of searching, I managed to track down some info on BiblioCommons:

They have a terrible website.
Their founder, Beth Jefferson, appears to be a mix of volunteer-ist and entrepreneur (imagine that!).
Beth talks about BiblioCommons in a podcast I haven’t listened to yet.
They seem to snarf information from Amazon. (Their images come directly from Amazon)
I am addicted to annotating books.

As far as I can tell, they don’t have an official API. I managed to find a Drupal module that professes to do BiblioCommons stuff, but I don’t know enough about Drupal to tell what it’s up to.

And their login pages confuse cURL. Boo!

Ooo! Cheap duds!

Erigami Scholey-Fuller — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 03:50:53 +0000

Joe Mamma is currently selling some really nice snowboarding jackets for 50%-75% off. And if you have a wee little skull (unlike me, dear reader), you can also get some pretty slick helmets for redonkulous prices.

My first Wikipedia article

Erigami Scholey-Fuller — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 05:06:35 +0000

Being a weenie, I created a Wikipedia page for Richard Colvin, the gent at the centre of Canada’s detainee abuse scandal. Take a look at the initial batch of released memos written by Richard Colvin. SPOILER ALERT: nothing conclusive.

HTTP++

Erigami Scholey-Fuller — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:54:23 +0000

Google has announced an experimental alternative to HTTP: SPDY. It’s a datagram-oriented protocol that multiplexes streams across a single TCP connection to minimize latency. The initial explanation sounds pretty neat.

New OC Transpo Website

Erigami Scholey-Fuller — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:08:27 +0000

It looks like OC Transpo is rolling out a new website on November 12. You can get a sneak preview at www.octranspo1.com. The content is pretty much the same, but it’s all web 2.0-y. They seem to have replaced the clunky old travel planner with an all-in-one thing.

AQ test makes it big

Erigami Scholey-Fuller — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:53:08 +0000

A couple of years back I wrote a javascript version of a quasi-diagnostic test used to help diagnose Asperger syndrome. I wrote it for a lark: I was working with peeps that were socially awkward (like me), and I wanted to play with javascript. I stuck it on this blog and forgot about it.

Today I noticed a link from Common Sense Atheism pissing on some god-botherer’s ebook. It turns out that my AQ test has been tramping around the intertubes and is now moonlighting in theist/freethinker debates.

The apple falls close to the tree.